Business Jet Traveler

ExcelAire's new private jet terminal at Long Island [N.Y.] MacArthur Airport has received TSA approval as a gateway for travel to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Facilities at 20 other airports also have such approval. The authorization for ExcelAire came after it passed TSA security checks and implemented special security procedures.

Aircraft and car builders over the years have mined the alphabet and assayed certain letters as precious metal-GT, R, S, X and Z come to mind-but one five-letter word still stands alone as the medal for power in a pint-size package.
Turbo.

The NASDAQ crashed in March 2000, Shawn Jenkins recalled. "That June, my partner Mason Holland and I started Benefitfocus. It was an awkward time to start a software company," he said, with just a touch of irony.

Swiss-based Jet Aviation and Dubai-based charter operator Elite Jets have formed a partnership to provide aircraft management and charter services in the Middle East. Elite Jets will provide regional charter services to Jet Aviation customers in the Middle East, while Jet Aviation will offer line and unscheduled maintenance services to Elite's fleet of business aircraft.

Salt Lake City, well known for its founding by Mormon pioneers in 1847 and as the home of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, gained the nickname "Crossroads of the West" after the "Golden Spike" symbolically completed the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869, just north of the Great Salt Lake.

Hawker Beechcraft has a program well under way to produce the Premier II update to the Premier I that will climb faster, fly farther and faster, and carry a bigger payload, according to the company. The Premier II will feature new 3,050-pound-thrust Williams International engines and performance-enhancing winglets.

Castle & Cooke Aviation has opened an FBO at Honolulu International Airport. The former Circle Rainbow facility received a $5 million upgrade, with renovation of the lobby, 18,000-square-foot hangar and 60,000 square feet of office space. Castle & Cooke plans to offer jet-A and avgas service later this year on an expanded general aviation ramp on the island of Lanai.

For an elite band of thrill-seekers, heli-skiing is the ultimate adrenaline rush.
"We change people's lives," said Mike Olson, one of the three owners of Wasatch Powderbirds (www.powderbird.com), one of the nation's premier heli-skiing tour operators. "Anyone who does this has a sense of adventure that we respect."

At the Aviation Insurance Association convention earlier this year, industry experts reported a mini-boom that is benefiting the insured, large and small. The reason: a credit crunch throughout much of the economy, triggered by the U.S. sub-prime loan debacle, has been driving capital, especially private-equity funds, toward less risky investments, including aviation insurance.

Geiger Excavating has sued Eclipse Aviation, seeking refund of a $150,000 deposit for an Eclipse 500 VLJ, plus pre-judgment interest and the cost of taking the case to court. Jay Geiger, president of Geiger Excavating of Fort Wayne, Ind., signed a deposit agreement for the aircraft in October 2000.